Friday, October 30, 2009

So here is the special Halloween video I have been shooting all throughout the month of October. An inside look at Halloween displays, as well as a nice shout out for the goosebumps books I have received in the mail from my subscribers. As an extra bonus, there's even some footage of me at one of my schools showing off my English language bulletin board. All in all, a fairly nice episode.

Only 48 days to go until I am back home and see my girlfriend again! Wow, lower double digits now! Less than 7 weeks to go!

Friday, October 23, 2009

So here's this week's episode. It focuses on what grocery shopping is like for me in Japan, so enjoy all of the shots of the local grocery store in my town haha. It is also kind of interesting to hear about my budget and how much all of this food costs.

Also, there is a big thank you to the initial response to my plea for goosebumps books haha. Since then, I've received NINE books in the mail already, so I am quite happy that my subscribers are so awesome! Thank you so much!

The Halloween episode will be next week. I was planning on doing another J-Shelf for then, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do so now. Hmm. Making two videos a week is proving to be more difficult than I thought it would be, but we shall see.

Also, only 55 days till I am home and with my girlfriend! Oh that will be lovely haha.

Friday, October 16, 2009

So here is this week's Iwate Swan video, it is the second video of my adventures in Sendai with my friend Luke. It was a lot of fun to shoot this video and the previous one, and I am looking forward to seeing Luke again next month to hopefully create another fun video together. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it.

Down to 62 days to go until I'm back home! That is less than 9 weeks now! Single Digit Weeks! Hurray!!!

Also, J-Shelf is probably going into a biweekly schedule now, so the next one will be out before Halloween I think.rodger

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

so here's this week's j-shelf, it is all about one of my favorite sakamoto albums out of his very impressive discography.

might start doing j-shelf every other week now, if the views continue to decrease on these. i have one planned for the week of halloween, so perhaps i will go into a biweekly schedule with these. Iwate Swan videos will continue to come out once a week.

Friday, October 9, 2009

This week's episode sees me meeting up with my good friend Tokyo Luke! It's been over 14 months since the last time I saw him, and it was great to meet up and chat about how life has been and how we are settling into our new jobs in japan. Next week's episode also takes place in Sendai, as I shot so much footage over the time I was there, that I had to make 2 videos hah. Yes, the request for goosebumps books at the end of the video is real. Generous souls can send me a private message or shoot me an email.

In long distance relationship news, I am now out of the seventies and down to 69 days to go! Over half way done!!! Next week, I enter into single digit weeks remaining, as right now there is just under 10 weeks to go. Nice!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Hey gang, so I just put up this week's J-Shelf video, which is a review of Ogawa Yoko's "The Housekeeper and the Professor" book. Very nice story, and I recommend you give it a read. Curious to see how this video will do, I've noticed a decline in views of my videos since the debut of this series, so I wonder if it is stretching out my audience a bit thin? Hmm.

Today I am right in the middle of my distance from seeing my girlfriend! Tomorrow I will be more than 50% done with this stretch of distance! From July 29-Dec 17th..... tomorrow I begin my descent down the proverbial mountain as I fly into her open arms. Ahh, such a nice feeling. 71 days to go!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Hey gang, so October has now been underway for a few days and I am getting into the excitement of Halloween (which is my favorite holiday!). I have been decorating my house with little Halloween goodies and I hope to get many more before the spooktacular 31st of the month.

(My current Halloween display next to my TV!)

Today, I spent my Sunday making and editing videos. I filmed and edited this week’s J-Shelf together, and it is a review of a book by a Japanese author. Pretty good stuff, and to make the video a bit more interesting I set it to a bunch of pictures that I have taken while in this country. It’s a relaxing video, so I like it. I also edited together episode 10 of Iwate Swan! I really can’t believe that episode 10 is already going up this week! This series is moving along so quickly! Anyways, the new one going up features Tokyo Luke (or now, as he is better know, “Sendai Luke”) and it is a pretty fun episode.

Going to go grocery shopping in a bit (which will probably be the subject of a new video in a few weeks actually), and I shall start filming the Halloween episode soon.

74 days to go until I see my girlfriend! I have been really upbeat and happy about things lately. Later this week we will be more than halfway done with this longest stretch of time and distance! Just need to keep up this optimism and keep having a good time!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Hey gang, so here is this week's Iwate Swan episode. I got to help out and carry one of the portable shrines in Hanamaki's City Festival. This is a pretty big festival where people from all over Iwate come to scope it out. Carrying the shrine was a lot of hard work (man was it heavy!) but it was such a great experience to be involved in this very traditional Japanese experience. Hope you guys enjoy the video!

In other news, 75 days to go until I am back home to see my girlfriend! More time has passed, and that number just keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller and....

日本語の一言ガジェット

Iwate Swan:

College graduate in Japan to teach English over the course of 2009-2010. Rose to fame on youtube via reviews of Japanese horror films and a weekly series of daily life in Japan called Tokyo Swan. This time around, our hero is placed in iwate-ken and is once again documenting his experiences at:
www.youtube.com/rodgerswan